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It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the opportunity to become a rock star. Not literally, but try convincing someone who has mastered Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break before a packed living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to the music. Each riff mimicked specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic performance.

Harmonix had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series that had a remarkable influence on numerous musicians featured, showcasing classic groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.

A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – despite the fact the first two games mostly used cover versions.

“We reproduced every song because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it was nearly impossible. We failed to secure bands like the Who – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. However, when the game became a hit, and record sales airtime increased, everyone wanted to participate.”

He continues: “Among the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their children to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”

Timeless Music Finds Younger Fans

Irish group one featured act had their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series revived older hits to the forefront: “The game provided a larger, new demographic. Typically such music was considered outdated material, however once it got featured on the game young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave all our music a new life.”

At that time, the band's first record remained not available stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.

Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Influence

Music's biggest acts soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and related stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group greater revenue than any of their records. It sold more than 500,000 units upon release, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.

The series still motivates quick-handed fanaticism within the community. Recently, a streamer completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive customisation options. The song is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at increased tempo and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took months of practice of practice.

“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, it doesn't imply you ought to use a real gun and go to war,” notes musician the artist.

The band previously wrapped up a profitable run before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”

Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to a single track, that's fine – each person has a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.

Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar

The best marketing, whether it’s for cars, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.

Titles like the fan project and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene alive, and there’s expectations of a new product from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has begun work on their first music game. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?

“We thought those games could be like Madden where you can releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music that it could be evergreen, so I’ve always been optimistic. There’s no reason for it to continue with new generations.”